The actual word Theosophy is a Greek derivative
meaning Divine Wisdom but that doesn’t mean much to the enquirer.

In the Theosophical Society the word has a
more specific meaning in relation to the work of Society co-founder Helena Petrovna
Blavatsky and later writers. H P Blavatsky’s mission was to interpret Eastern
Esoteric ideas for Western Society.

H P Blavatsky’s remit was to describe a
scheme for the existence of the Universe and to define man’s place within that
scheme. Her remit also encompassed study of the hidden dimensions of man and
his potential and also the Laws of Nature.

But It’s Not a Religion

H P Blavatsky presented her work as ideas
for consideration and not as dogma. This format has been upheld by the
Theosophical Society and everything is negotiable.

Members of the Theosophical Society are
simply required to agree with its 3 objects (outlined below)

Objects of the Society

1. To form a nucleus of the
Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex,
caste or colour.

2. To encourage
the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science.

3. To investigate unexplained laws of
Nature and the powers latent in man.

The headquarters were
subsequently moved to Adyar,
India
and an Adyar based Theosophical Society still exists. After the death of H P
Blavatsky, The Theosophical Movement fragmented and
the Theosophical Tradition is today carried forward by many diverse groups.

________________________

The Secret Doctrine

H P Blavatsky wrote a voluminous amount of
Theosophical Literature but The Secret Doctrine,
published 1888, is the big one she is remembered for, and the major reference
work for Theosophists.The book is divided
into two sections, Cosmogenesis (the coming into being of the Universe) and
Anthropogenesis (the coming into being of Mankind).

The Secret Doctrine is usually a rather
difficult work for beginners to tackle and we have provided some material on this
site which should make the way in to Theosophy much easier. But please don’t
give on the idea of reading The Secret Doctrine, you will probably move on to
it when you feel you are finding your feet with Theosophy.

________________________

And Now,

A Quick Tour of
Theosophical Ideas

The overview of Theosophical ideas offered
her was written by mainstream Theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater. The work
is divided into short soundbites and Leadbeater has
an accessible journalistic style.

A Rough
Outline of Theosophy by Annie Besant is a concise round up of Theosophical principles which also examines the claims made by Theosophy.
In addition, Annie Besant summarizes the Theosophical position and approach;

“We, who are
Theosophists, allege that there exists a great body of doctrine philosophical,
scientific and ethical, which forms the basis of, and includes

all that is accurate in, the philosophies, sciences,
and religions of the ancient and modern worlds.”

Theosophy postulates that Reincarnation or the
cycle of Death and Rebirth is an integral part of our evolution and that we
will all ultimately evolve beyond the need for further lives. For most of us
this is rather a long way off but in the meantime we can help ourselves along
and make the process a whole lot easier by studying the subject and striving to
exercise some personal control over our destiny. We have more control than we
might at first think.

In each life we have something to learn and
our teacher is the law of cause and effect or Karma. Karma is a correcting
process that pervades every level of existence without which the Universe would
simply be unworkable.

In Life and Life After
Death, Annie Besant covers the mechanics of the cycle of death and rebirth and
what it means to the end user. She outlines how the period between physical
lives is a full programme of events which can be difficult or easy depending on
the life previously lived and gives encouragement and warnings regarding the
Karmic consequences of our actions.

The Theosophical concept of evolution is
very different from that of Charles Darwin who focused principally on the
physical and mental

development
of ourselves and the animal kingdom and the physical development plant kingdom.

The Theosophical model of evolution is very
complex and far reaching and a basic description is given here to give new
enquirers a handle on the subject.

Theosophy postulates that everything in the
universe is evolving but to simplify the explanation, the description here is
limited to the evolution of humanity and our planet.

The Earth is evolving just as we are and as
we are part of our planet, our evolution and the
Earth’s evolution are inseparable and interdependent. Theosophists refer to this
interdependence of Earth and human evolution as “Rounds and Races”

The Earth evolves through cosmic eras known
as Rounds made up of smaller cosmic eras known as Globes.

The term globe refers both to the Earth that
we recognize and six currently dormant companion Globes which function on other
planes of nature. These Globes are known as the Planetary Chain or Chain of
Globes.

A driving force composed of spiritual
entities known as the Lifewave passes through each Globe of the Chain one at a
time. This tour of the Globes is known as a Planetary
Round. Our spiritual entities are part of the Lifewave and we are on the fourth
Globe of the Fourth Round.

Seven Rounds or Tours
of the Globes complete the cycle known as a Planetary Manvantara. The Earth
Chain and the Lifewave then go into a period of rest known as the Planetary
Pralaya.

(There are smaller Pralayas
between each Globe and each Round)

Humanity evolves through mass
reincarnations known as Root Races. There are seven Root Races per Globe and we
are the fifth on the current Globe.

In each phase of evolution there is
something to learn or develop.

This is a very basic outline and to move
forward with this topic here are W Q Judge’s article “Rounds and Races” and
“The Planetary Chains” by C W Leadbeater
in which the subject is covered in much more depth.

This explanation is applied
to Human Evolution but please note that everything in the Universe is evolving
on the same principle.

Theosophy postulates that
evolution is spiritual as well as physical whereas Darwin
just dealt with the physical.

We start out as Spiritual
Entities but you don’t get any experience for your evolution if you remain
spirit. Spirit can’t get its hands dirty so you need a vehicle and in our case
this is a physical body.

Spirit effectively descends
into matter in the form of the human body it enters and then having gained
experience (hopefully) will then rise out of it. The general idea is for us to
evolve by continually dropping down into matter (taking physical form) and then
coming back up again. This process is known as Involution and in Theosophy this
is an integral part of evolution.

Of course progress will be
made and this is on an upward spiral in which although we descend into matter,
both our Spiritual Entities and even the physical bodies we inhabit will slowly
evolve.

Involution
and Planetary Rounds

The progress of the Lifewave
through the Chain of Globes begins with passage through three increasingly more
physical Globes to our own, which is the most physical of all the Globes,
operating on the most physical cosmic plane. The Lifewave will then move up
through three less physical Globes to complete the Round.

In “The Earth Chain”, W Q Judge explains
the descent into matter of both the Earth and Humanity as an integral component
of the evolutionary process.

Theosophy maintains that prior to engaging
in its journey through the Earth Chain of Globes, the Lifewave completed the
process with the Moon. The Moon like our Earth has a Chain of Globes and the
passage of the Lifewave has now completed its cycle. The Moon we can now see is
the moribund shell of the equivalent Globe to our own which operated on the
same plane of nature.

W Q Judge covers the subject of the Lifewave’s passage from the Moon in “The Earth Chain” (link
above) and also gives an excellent explanation in

A brief
look at Theosophical writings will reveal that Theosophy uses Sanskrit terms to
describe many of its concepts

Theosophists
have good business and esoteric reasons for using Sanskrit terms. Sanskrit is
not just a language in the sense of verbal communication, it has other
dimensions and attributes that go far beyond practical everyday language.

Sanskrit
is the ancient religious, philosophical and scientific language of India through which learning has been handed down in written
form since at least 1000 BCE. Before the written form arrived, Sanskrit must
have been the basis of a phenomenal oral tradition. Despite being the most
successful world language, English as we can understand it only goes back about
as far as the works of John Skelton 1525ish.

By its
esoteric nature and rarified use, Sanskrit has also been protected from
distortion and pollution by other languages. English has the problem that some
words vary in meaning around the world.